BJP’s Landslide Victory in UP and the Muslim Community

Sunday 19 March 2017

by Arup Kumar Sen

The BJP’s landslide victory, winning 325 seats in the 403-member Assembly in the 2017 elections in UP has opened up a new chapter in the political history of India. We are yet to get micro-analysis of the voting pattern in the different constituencies in terms of castes and communities. None can predict with certainty what will be the broad policy of the new BJP Government regarding the UP Muslims.

But, some alarming developments have been reported in the national media. Reportedly, at least 35 per cent of the total voters, who got displaced after the riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in 2013, were not registered with the Election Commission. It is to be noted in this connection that the BJP captured all six seats in Muzaffarnagar and two out of the three in neighbouring Shamli in the current Assembly elections. The most alarming fact is that in “riot-scarred Mazaffarnagar and Shamli, four of the nine winners in the neighbouring districts have been booked on charges of rioting and criminal intimidation”.

The above facts raise fundamental questions about the prevailing paradigm of politics of representation.